Process of treating heavy hydrocarbon oils.



G. J. GREENSTREET.

PROCESS 0F TREATING HEAVY HYDROGARBN om,

APPLICATION FILED MAR, 13, w21,

l y l l @i Paten-ized mit. m4,

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panying drawing comprises a closed iinirnn srarns aan une.

CHARLES J. GREENSTREET, GF DENVER, COLORADO.

PROCESS OlE TREATING HEAVY HYDROGARBON OILS.

Application led March 13.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. GREEN- sTREET, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of Denver, in the State of Colorado, have invented a certain new and useful Process of rl-lreating Heavy HydrocarbonOils, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the process of treating heavy hydrocarbon oils set forth in my copending application for patent therefor Serial Number 696,891 led May 13, 1912; and the present invention provides for the testing and control of the operation of said process.

The accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification and wherein' like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur, is a diagrammatic View of an appa? ratus suitable for carrying out my process.

The apparatus illustrated in the accomreceptacle l for the crude oil, a boiler or steam generator 2, a furnace 3, a heating coil or pipe system 4 in position to beheated by said furnace, and a series of condensing tanks 5,6, 7 The. oilreceptacle is connected with an air pump or other suitable source of'pressure to malntain pressure on the oil; and it has an outlet pipe 8 which communicates with the heating coil through an atomizer 9 and a pipe 1Q. The boiler or generator likewise has a pipe 11 which communicates through vsaid atomizer with said pipe 10, which in turn communicates with the heating coil. The heating coil has an outlet pipe 12 which leads `into the lower portion of the first condensing tank and the iirsthcondensing tank` has an outlet pipe 13 leading from the upper portion thereof to ther lower portion of the second condensing tank; and each successive tank is provided with an inlet pipe opening near its upper portion. Extending 4from the-outlet pipe 12 of the heating coil, is a pipe or by-` pass 14`which leads into the fire chamber of the furnace or elsewhere, as desired, and is there provided with a suitable test burner 15. Each of the condensing tanks has an outlet ordraw-off pipe 16 at or near its bottom, through which the hydrocarbon oil may be drawn olf foi-test or use as required. The several pipes are controlled by suitable 1911. seria1No.e14,'125.

valves, 17, 18, 19,20, 2 1, 22, es, 24. 25, 2c, provided therefor.

v 1n the practice of my process, the furnace islirst fired until the heating coil or pipesystem therein is heated to a temperature in excess of one thousand degrees Fahrenheit; and this temperature is maintained `throughout the operation; The best results are usually produced with a cherry red heat. During fhis initial heating, communications with the heating coil arefcut 0E. When the furnace has become sufficiently hot, the valves controlling the communication of the heating coil with the steam generator and with the test jet or burner are opened so that steam alone is passed through the heating coil and out through the test burner. The valvelcontrolling the outlet pipe from the crude oil receptacle is then opened gradually so as to allow oil in increasing quantity to pass through the atomizer into the heating coil and out through the test jet or burner. Initially, of course, pure steam issues from the test jet or burner and later an increasing quantity of hydrocarbon vapor issues therewith. So long as the mixture contains only a slight percentage of hydrocarbon, it is not inflammable; but with a larger percentage of hydrocarbon vapor, the mixture becomes inflammable and is ignited by the furnace heat. 1f the hydrocarbon vapor is in excess, the flame from the test jet or burner becomes smoky; whereas a bluish Specification of Letters Patent. Bailanta-)til Septgil, lllla Haine indicates that the steam and oil vapor are mixed in proper proportion. When the mixture issues from the test jet with such bluish flame, the valve in the pipe leading to the condensing tank is opened, and the valve in the by-pass leading to the test jet or burner may be closed; or it may be open continuously or at intervals -to permit a small quantity of the product to burn as an indication of the operation of the process. `When the uncondensed product, thus tested, is found to be' satisfactory, from the heating coil into the first condensing tank, where the heavier hydrocarbon oils condense, while the lighter hydrocarbons either condense initially in this tank or pass into the other condensing tanks successively. In the course of the operation, the first condensing Atank becomes quite hot withwthe result that any of the light hydroit then passes carbons that may have condensed therem initially, are redistilled and passed ,over into one ot the succeeding tanks. Byv this 'arrangement of a series of successive condensing tanks, the h drocarbons in each tank are successively ighter than those in the next preceding tank; but this separation can readily be eii'ected by condensing the entire* product in a into the lighter hydrocarbons. As thev composition oi? the crude oil varies greatly, even when it comes from adjacent wells or even in the life of a particular well, I prefer to test thejproper, 'proportion ofsteam and oil by means of the' test burner as above described,`rather'than by other means, especially as this test burner affords a convenient neans of testing the proportion at any time during the operation of the rocess. Where, however, the com osition o, the crude oil is substantially uni orm, it may be advisable to thoroughly v. 'emulsify the oil and 'water together initially, instead of depending upon the atomizer.

The proportion of water to oil used in my process admits of considerable variation, especially as the composition of the crude oil itself varies and water is one of the ingredients thereof. One W-ay of testing the quantity .of water is by comparing resulting products with the products resultingl from ordinary fractional distillation of the same v oil; the quantity of Water should be increased until, the proportion of light hydrocarbons in the product greatly exceeds the proportion of the same light hydrocarbons resulting from the ordinary fractional distillation process. With ordinary crude oils like those from the Illinois field, it is preferable to use crude oil and water in substantially equal proportions,- but the quantity of water may very greatly exceed that ofthe crude oil. So long as the water is used in sufficient quantity to bring about the conversion of yheavier hydrocarbons into lighter hydrocarbons, it is of advantage. The eX- cess water condenses at the bottom of the condensing tanks whence it may be drawn oli'.

It is to be noted that the temperature of the heating coil influences the products, 4but that the products which result from the treatment of given crude oil at a iven temperature are of a definite and uni orm quality. For instance, certain definite andmuni-m .requirements of the with other apparatus form productscanbe obtained from a given crude oilby treating1 the same at `a red heat; whereascertain o er vlorodiizts --ialso of a v v.deinitem'd uniform quality will be obtained by treating another portion. of the same crude oil at a bright 'cherry heat. v The temperature may be varied therefore to suit the desired product. Obviously, my process can be carried out than that illustrated in the accompanying drawing. So, too, the process admits of considerable variation without departing from myinvention.

What I claim is:

1. The process of procuring light hydrocarbons from crude oil which consists in keeping a pipe system at a temperature above one thousand degrees Fahrenheit, said system being clear` of obstructions tending to retard the iow of the oil, passing such oil continuously through said pipe system while commingled with steam in such proportion that the resulting product is capable of .burning with a bluish flame, and then permitting suc-h product to condense.

2. The process of treating crude oil which consists in submitting a lcurrent of said oil commingled with steam to a heat in excess of one thousand degrees Fahrenheit, igniting a portion of the hot products, varying the proportion of oil and steam until the test llame becomes bluish, and then condensing the remaining product.

3. The process of treating crude oil which consists in submitting a current of said oil commingled with steam to a heatin excess of one thousand degrees Fahrenheit, igniting a portion of the hot products, varying the proportions of oil and steam until the test flame becomes bluish, and then fractionally condensin the remaining product.

4. T ie process of treating crude oil which consists` in submitting a current of said oil commingled with steam to a cherry red heat, igniting a portion of the hot products, varying the proportions of oil and steam until the test iame becomes bluish, and then condensing lthe remaining product.

5. The process of treatin crude oil which consists in passing steam tlrough a heating coil at a heat in excess of one thousand derees Fahrenheit, and thence through a test urner, injecting a small proportion of oil into the steam before it enters said heating coil and progressively increasing said proportion until the. uncondensed product burns of determining the amount of such steam,

:uniones which consists in igniting a portion of the issuing vapor and gradually changing the proportion of the oil until the test Helme becomes bluish.

7. The process of converting crude oil into light hydrocarbons, liquid-'at ordinary atmospheric temperatures7 which consists in atomizing the crude oil with steam, passing the mixture continuously through a; plpe l0 system maintained at a substantially cherry red heat, igniting a, portion of the hot prooHAs. J. snnsusrnnnr.

Witnesses:

JAMES A. CARR, Mmm A. Smmom. 

